On Tuesday, March 13, 2018, three years have passed since the membership of Kosovo Basketball Federation (FBK) at the International Basketball Federation (FIBA).
FBK on March 13, 2015 was the 215th member of FIBA at the FIBA Executive Committee meeting held in Geneva.
KBF Secretary General Elvira Dushku told the official website of the federation that since then and so far Kosovo basketball has evolved, but has also faced various challenges, while at the same time has tried new international adventures, while the federation itself has matured thanks to the experience gained in these three years, making KBF today an example in FIBA in terms of organization and internal management.
Elvira Dushku, Secretary General of KBF:
"We have worked in several directions at the same time, but that particular importance has been given to working with new generations in both competitions. So this has been our priority, and thanks to this we have for the third consecutive year we have 5 New Representatives in the European Championship, Divisions B and C in men and women. So in 2015 we had 2 teams (U16 and U20), and today we have 3 more, including women.
Also since the admission we are supported by FIBA with different projects of the new categories, and for the past two years we are part of a joint project with Turkey, Macedonia, Bulgaria and Romania, aimed at the development of young basketball players, coaches and managers. The same project will continue in the next two years, but now in both competitions and will be even more advanced.
Within these three years we have participated in qualifications with Representative A of Kosovo for Eurobasket 2017, where although we have not won any matches, we have gained organizational experience, but also in terms of internal organization of the Representative. This experience, as well as additional engagement and some changes to the Representatives that have proved to be positive, have helped us pass the European Prequalification stage for the China World Cup 2019, thus eliminating a strong national like Macedonia, and now we are part of nationally renowned group qualifications, such as Lithuania, Poland and Hungary.
At the same time, we have worked hard to increase the quality of judges / observers, where I think we have had enough success but we should not complain, we should continue to work harder in this regard.
We started with the Training and Licensing Program for Coaches, which is very important for us, but also our weakest point, as we have come to the conclusion that we have more work to do than we first thought. For this we have engaged FIBA expert Anton Krump, who for the second consecutive year is working intensively with our coaches.
We have a FIBA program, FECC, 5 trainers from Kosovo, and we have 2 staff members who are being educated in the program for so-called "TIME OUT" sports administrators.
At club level we have experienced a decline in the last two years, but we believe that with the onset of the implementation of the law on sponsorship, the teams will manage to be significantly better managed and thus we will begin to establish a strong base in each club in Kosovo, including both men and woman.
FIBA reports in these three years of acceptance are to be praised, and this is best evidenced by the fact that we have been entrusted with large projects, both to new generations and referees. To the latter for the third consecutive year BFK is the organizer of the Clinic for Potential Candidates for potential FIBA referees.
And to prove its support, FIBA has done this through the trust it has given us for organizing the European Championship U18, Division C (Men), where this summer in Kosovo will deploy 8 national teams from Europe together with FIBA's top officials.
Participation in various conferences and FIBA Workshops served KBF to increase the potential of staff members, the number of which today stands at 7, in total we are at the office, which at FIBA meetings which we senior KBF officials had was to be praised and to take an example from.
During 2017, we have established close cooperation with the US Embassy in Prishtina, where we have joint projects for young boys and girls, all communities, as well as for KBF staff, these projects are realized in Kosovo, but also in the US, and this cooperation is just becoming deeper and stronger.
We've done a lot of work, but what awaits us in the days, weeks, months and years ahead is even greater. But this is the challenge we have accepted as a federation and we will try to do everything in the good of developing and enhancing the quality of Kosovar basketball. "
